By Teddy Cambosa

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has announced that it is supporting its stride to eradicate Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Guinea (Guinea) through continuous deployment of scientific and technical experts in the country.

Image/CDC

Earlier this month CDC allocated $20 million from the Infectious Disease Rapid Response Reserve Fund for preparedness and response activities in Ebola-affected and border countries to ensure continuation of these efforts.

“Even one case of Ebola is too many,” said CDC Ebola Response Incident Manager Joel Montgomery, PhD, CAPT USPHS. “These funds allow CDC and its partners to quickly put in place response, preparedness, and post-outbreak programs and activities, learn more about the virus, and protect the health of the American people and people around the world.”

Part of the organization’s commitment in their stance to eradicate Ebola include providing on-the-ground and/or technical assistance to all parts of the responses, including epidemiology and surveillance, laboratory, infection prevention and control, case management, border health, risk communication and community engagement, vaccine, and survivor programs. 

Furthermore, CDC is also working to strengthen rapid response capacity. These efforts are building upon capacities that CDC helped establish during previous Ebola outbreaks in these countries. These include support to the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET)who are working in the outbreak area in DRC, and also has contract staff in the city of Goma.

Teddy Cambosa is a graduating BS Biology student and a former campus journalist at Batangas State University. He is also currently writing for MARKETECH APAC, a small APAC-focused marketing news site.